Trade Hart/Winslow/Didi/Keon/pick or CJ/Norm/Nance/Roco?

As will YOUR prediction FAMS.

 

So you'd be cool with us squeaking into the playoffs and losing early?

 

I don't think the Pels would have done that. I don't think they wanted to include the pick at all. They thought they could get CJ without it, because they knew we had to trade him and there wasn't much demand for him and his contract.

I think we had to make the clippers trade early to show that we were serious and to put pressure on the Pels.

I think that's how Cronin finangled the opportunity at that lotto pick out of them. Unfortunately it didn't work out. But it was a worthy effort, IMO.

 

actually, BJ said it in the post I responded to

I'm pretty sure I was the first poster here to suggest that very trade and I suggested it back in February right around the deadline when there was a pretty low chance the Lakers would be in the top-10; and that both picks could/would/should be top-4 protected (no team was going to give up a potential top-4 pick for CJ)

but if that had been the trade and the Blazers had that Lakers pick, and then jumped into the top-4 during the lottery, I think we'd have the same amount of bitching from most of the same people. It sucks the Blazers won't have those two lottery picks we all dreamed about this year. But they were never going to have a guaranteed 2nd pick. There was always going to be a chance for bad luck, and being the Blazers, that's the fucking card they flopped

 

Don’t want any of them. I’m indifferent at this point.

 

It doesn't matter what I'm cool with, I just don't think we're going to miss the playoffs with Dame, Ant, Hart, and Nurk. Especially if we get a legit forward out of the draft.

Fact is, we were hamstrung. Turning what we had into a contender over 1 off season was always an incredibly long shot.

 

Isn't that what you've been saying you prefer?

 

Sure is. Wish we doing that right now.

 

Oh so you're assuming Nurk will be healthy?

 

Healthy enough to make the playoffs. Without a healthy Nurk we certainly weren't going to be contenders anyway. So I'm not sure what else you were expecting if you are planning on Nurk being injured...

 

That’s just it, I’m not.

 

Yeah you're right. But still think we could find better value for Norm even without RoCo. Still think we could get a 1st for Norm, and if you made it a 3-team deal you could mess with the salaries to still get the $20M TPE. Or combine the Grant deal to it.

 

@BonesJones is saying that because we know the Lakers pick would have conveyed to us AFTER THE FACT. He isn't saying we should have only taken the Lakers pick back then. He has stated multiple times the saame thing i'm saying. The Lakers pick should have been included so we would get the better of either pick.

Yes, there was always still a chance the lotto balls didn't go our way. I could live with that instead of not even having the lotto balls fucking us as an option.

 

Not even neccesarily the better pick, just that if the Pelicans pick didn't convey first, then it should've been backed up by the Lakers pick if it was available. New Orleans was willing to give up what was the 8th Pick at the time (their own) and somehow, if the trade worked out and they made the playoffs or their pick moved into the top 4, they weren't willing to back up those scenarios with a pick likely to be 8-10 that they didn't seem likely to have? The condition is literally a better outcome for them than the initial, expected trade, yet Cronin couldn't negotiate that as part of the deal.

 

So there are a lot of you who were OK with CJ's contract? and Norm's also? Getting those 2 contracts off our books is a huge factor in these trades.
Rumors are that several good free agents didn't want to come here because we had 2 ball dominant guards. They really wanted to play with Dame, but not with Dame and CJ.
I'm holding out faith that in the long run, these trades will result in a much better roster and a roster that fits Chauncy's style. Only time will tell.
I believe that if Cronin was our GM sooner, CJ would of been traded when his value was higher and we'd be in the playoffs right now.

 

Norm was on a good contract. CJ might have been a bit overpaid, but he was clearly the Blazers second best player, and now there is no way to replace his salary relief with an above average starting player. I don't understand what benefit getting CJ contract off the books provides for this teams roster talent? The only benefit I see is Jody Allen and Vulcan's pocketbooks. Sad that the Blazers now prioritize cost savings above roster talent.

I did believe one of Dame, CJ, or Simons eventually would need to go. But it didn't have to be done in a rush before the deadline, and we didn't have to jettison Norm as well. The change needed to be done in a way that maximizes the long term talent of the Blazers roster, that is something a good GM like Morey would have done; he put up with a historically awkward situation for 8 months to hold out for an MVP talent, which he eventually got. Conversely Cronin dumped his assets for a big loss weeks before a deadline and months/years before the Blazers would be trying to contend. If there is no good trade available today, well then a good GM waits for tomorrow.

Norm would've been great on his reasonable contract as a 3rd guard with Dame & Simons. He could defend, could play off the ball, and could start or come off the bench. Now if we got excellent value for him I would've explored moving him. Instead Cronin rushed to trade him, with the largest benefit being dollars saved to Jody Allen and Vulcan.

I sure won't be giving my dollars to support this current ownership and management. I hope they sell the team ASAP.

 

Norm isn't a great contract at 17 million dollars coming off the bench. And he definitely shouldn't be starting at the 3.
Also his defense is poor.

 

I disagree.
Simons > CJ - especially if you factor in $.
Hart > Norm - again, especially if you factor in $.

 

We didn't trade CJ for Simons. We had both.

We didn't get Hart for Norm. We could have had both.

I'd say overall the disagreements in these threads come down to two schools of thought;
1. Some fans believe in addition by subtraction for a team with middling talent.
2. Other fans believe when a team has mediocre talent, the team needs to retain or add the maximum talent possible.